My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.
Proverbs 4:20-21
Instructions from God. Please pay attention. Whenever God gives instructions, we need to take heed to what He is saying and obey Him. If we are willing and obedient we will eat the good of the land. Many may be willing, but God does not honor our will; He honors our obedience. If we don’t obey God, we will obey whatever pleases our flesh momentarily. Whatever we sow to the flesh will produce corruption. Disease and sickness are a type of corruption. In order to stop the process of corruption on our flesh, God intervenes and gives us instructions for our prosperity.
His instructions to prosper are consistent throughout His word. Isn’t it wonderful that God never changes? He honors His word. His word is Him; it contains the very essence of God in all His glory. No wonder the Word must be given our full attention. The Word is God. When we incline our ears to hear the Word, we are hearing God speak to us. When we keep the Word before our eyes we are beholding God; when we hide the Word in the midst of our hearts, we are inviting God inside. It is impossible to separate God from His word. They are one. So if we want to keep God close, keep His word close. The spirit will follow the Word. Focus on the Word, and the Spirit of God will cooperate with the Word. The Spirit of God then performs what the Word of God decrees. Keep the Word close by paying close attention to it.
For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
Proverbs 4:22
The Word is life to you if you find it. How do you find the Word? You find it through revelation. When you meditate on God’s word, seek for it, keep it before your eyes, fight to hold it in your heart and not let it go in exchange for some thoughts that appeal to your carnal senses, and then you will find the Word, and God begins to speak to you the deeper meaning of what you just meditated upon. Finding the Word also means finding the right promise that answers whatever need you might have. This is a marvelous thing that occurs when we keep the Word before us and hide it in our hearts. The Word then begins to transform us and this transformation brings us from death and corruption into life. His life. Eternal life. The Word of God has His eternal life in it. When we hide the Word in our hearts, we hide His life in our hearts.
There is yet another benefit of finding God’s word and holding on to it in our hearts. It also brings health to all our flesh. This means that no matter what illness attacks your body or how many of them attack you at one time, inclining your ear to, holding on to and meditating upon His word, will bring health to your flesh. Many people can believe the Word heals the soul, but not the flesh. This scripture says that the Word is actually medicine to our flesh. Take the Word like medicine. Take as many doses per day as you like; it is impossible to take too much of the Word. When you are healed, if you continue to take it, you will stay healed and walk in Divine health. You then have an overflow of healing medicine in you. You can pray for others and they will be healed, too. What marvelous power there is in God’s word.
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.
Proverbs 4:23-24
This is the prescription for keeping health. You must keep your heart. Why? Since the heart is the center of life, (all blood flows from the heart, which cleanses it, and returns it to all parts of the body) the Word says out of the heart comes the issues, or forces of life. The power of life flows from the heart. The heart feeds the thoughts, and words spring from thoughts. The body is interconnected. All disease, then, is basically heart disease. Whatever is in your heart feeds your flesh, just as the blood flowing from the heart organ feeds every living cell in every part of the natural body. Whatever you hear eventually has an effect upon your heart. Whatever words you meditate upon eventually become deposited in your heart.
If we keep only the Word of God in our hearts, and guard with diligence the entrance into our hearts, we will have only life forces flowing out of our hearts. If we allow carnal, forward or perverse, deceitful or wicked words to proceed out of our mouths, then we are inclining our ears to corrupt words. The choice is ours. We may not be able to prevent hearing certain words, but we may certainly prevent keeping them in our hearts and allowing them to issue forth out of us.
Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
Proverbs 4:25
Keeping our eyes straight ahead means that we are willing to do things God’s way. God leads us in a plain path. His word gives us a clear-cut vision into the future. There are no short cuts or detours on God’s road. There is nothing for God to hide from us. There are no surprises. God is open, honest, pure and without guile. His word is a lamp and a light to our feet. There is no darkness or stumbling in Him. So the straight and plain path unfolds God’s will before us. He is ever before us, leading us and guiding us. We must not look back. Remember Lot’s wife. When we keep our eyes straight before us, we become available to be attentive to God. We wait for His answer, His leading and His direction. We stay on a path of health and prosperity when we are led by the Spirit of God.
Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.
Proverbs 4:26-27
We are to be careful how we live and where we go. If we are to keep the Word in the midst of our hearts, we cannot be distracted by carnal influences. Once we are healed by God’s word, if we are to stay healed then we must be careful where we go, and to allow God to establish our steps. What does it mean to have our steps established? When we get married, we establish our relationship with our spouses by our vows, and our commitment to them. We settle into a routine that we refer to as married life. This includes establishing a daily routine of coming home, greeting our spouses and children after they come along, acting affectionately toward our families and allowing love to prevail. We establish our ways by our routine, habitual ways of doing things. When we have made obeying God a routine habit, then our ways become established in Him. When we keep doing things this way, we keep our feet from taking us in the wrong direction. We can choose life and health and make it a lifestyle. We develop health by developing the habit of obeying God, following His word by giving it honor, first place, and hiding it in our hearts. There is a wealth of health in God’s word.